[SUGGESTION] - Living Augments

[nokturnihs]

So I'd like to present a suggestion that solves a couple problems I feel are hindering warframe at the moment. Those problems are:

- veteran players aren't encouraged to play old content

- Nightwave encourages gameplay but in a way that puts the gameplay choices in DE's hands.

- once you've "built up" a weapon or warframe you are encouraged (at lower MR) to set it aside and use something else or (at higher MR) only use your "favorites".

-at higher MR, resources and credits outside of Kuva, endo and maybe rivens are usually insufficient incentive to play the game.

So, to help with these issues, I present this concept: Living Augments.

What are living augments:

Living augments are one-time attachments (like a focus lens) that improve and offer "choice trees" based on their exposure to content.

Here's an example (just an example, not representative of actual numbers):

I install a living augment on Inaros. As a warframe living augment it'll start out incredibly weak, say something like:

+1% health

Now, I like using Inaros for survival, eso, mobile defense, arbitrations and boss fights. So we know from those game types a lot of kills will get racked up. 

Survival would level up the augment less for kills but more for time spent in the mission.

Mobile defense would grant Xp to the augment for kills as normal

Arbitrations would grant Xp for kills based on it's mission type, subject to other bonuses. The level of mobs obviously will effect the Xp earned.

So fast forward a few missions. Say I did a 20 minute survival, and that earned me enough to level up my augment. Each level or few you earn you can option to spend on a new bonus, resetting it's strength to whatever levels it has minus the upgrade or keep those levels, which will enhance the bonuses they offer. So I earned say 2 levels on this one 20 minute run. Each level offers 0.1% to that single bonus, so it's 1.2% bonus health now.

So fast forward a lot of missions and your augment will start to resonate towards certain content - in this case, say survival missions. So when it reaches a high enough level and has a certain resonance, more specialized options can be selected. So an un-specialized augment might allow on warframes basic stuff like health, armor, shields, energy, and power strength, efficiency, etc. A specialized augment for survival might allow me to choose more unique bonuses like "oxygen gains you activate or collect are increased by X" or "for every X minutes in a mission you gain X armor" . Just some examples but you get the idea.

For spy missions you might get "killing an enemy within X seconds of being seen resets your concealment" or "alarms have a delayed response to sound by X" .

The long an short of it:

Living augments could be seen as "mini-rivens" - the difference being there's a lot more player choice and it's going to be a lot of work to get these augments to the point where they can compete with rivens. And I mean a lot - the idea is they're there to give players, especially but not limited to veterans something that rewards them EVERY mission, not a lot, but 0.1% additional damage or health is something more meaningful than say alloy plates you have in the millions, and it gives every weapon and warframe in the game a reason to be played - you can equip them on everything and see small growth no matter what you use them on. 

Some tacked on ideas to think about:

You could use a "disposition system" like rivens for these to effect their growth speed. For example, Mesa and Saryn are going to kill a lot more than a zephyr typically. Meanwhile Loki and ivara are going to hack more consoles. This disposition could effect Xp rewards per type of activity or just the overall growth of the augment.

This augment is a one-time attachment - which limits it's growth but doesn't take a mod slot. That works well for both players and game balance mechanics. 

 

Anyway, hope you dig.

 

Thanks!

-Nokturnihs-

[(XBOX)Skippy575]

Quote

Living augments could be seen as "mini-rivens"

[Zelmen]

13 minutes ago, nokturnihs said:

Each level offers 0.1% to that single bonus, so it's 1.2% bonus health now.

Yeah... thats how power creeps happen. Plus the community doesn't like being at a disadvantage just starting the game it appears. You're better off asking for something like focus trees but for the frame. So you can level up the tree and pick one for your load out. New people can get points right off the bat. Either way you're asking to play with fire. 

[K4RN4]

I think the idea is very interesting, but it's powercreep we don't need. If warframe offered any kind of endgame that would need this kind of power, I totally be onboard

[Darth_Predator]

2 минуты назад, Zelmen сказал:

You're better off asking for something like focus trees but for the frame.

Very much this. Some sort of additional specialization would be nice.

Though I would love for those to be thematic to a warframe I'm currently on. With stuff being unlockable before getting warframe in question. Though this wish can be bit unrealistic. We can even bount the whole system to helminth room

Спойлер

Since that's the strain of infestation responsible for creating warframes in the first place, it can help with altering those. Buffing Nekros anyone?

 

[nokturnihs]

3 hours ago, Zelmen said:

 Either way you're asking to play with fire. 

I'm just trying to convince DE to do something to encourage the people who've done/collected almost all the things to keep playing. I understand nightwave was an attempt to cater to FOMO players but for people like me it sucks all the fun out of the game - I think something like this would encourage me to login and play daily again - something nightwave discouraged tremendously. I mean, before NW I was having to be creative to come up with stuff to do, but I was at least having fun. DE has catered a LOT to new players and FOMO players, but we don't have a lot of incentive to play for people in the MR26+ range. So I don't care if this particular idea happens but I do want some kind of incentive at this point - Nightwave isn't it, but the opposite for me. That, and the new focus on intense (and usually boring grind) in the newer content they have released lately is killing the joy. I made the suggestion but it's just "a thing" I could think of to try and meet those needs. There's other ways for sure. But they won't cater to all/new/fomo players either I'd bet. And they don't necessarily need to - we have plenty for them, just need something for the other type of Warframe player.